World History Fall 2018

Ch. 11 discusses the Mongol empire. I found this very interesting because I had heard of Genghis Khan but new little to nothing else about it. I learned that the Mongol Empire was massive, taking over all of Eurasia, however, no new languages formed and there was not a spread of religion. The Mongols were a small population of people with a small economy. They did not have technological superiority over others, its main and basically, the only strong point was its military. The Mongols continued to conquer, using conquered people as slaves and military members. Those who refused to surrender to the Mongols were killed. Essentially they exploited all those who were conquered. It is really amazing how such a small and economically weak civilization was able to conquer such a massive amount of land. I was also surprised that Genghis Khan was not an elite, and his come to power was somewhat unusual. Overall, the chapter about the Mongols was very interesting and somewhat shocking to me. It...

Ch 8 discussed China in the Classical Era. China had been a major civilization since the Ancient Era, and continued to flourish into what is now called "The Golden Age" of China. During this time there was immense economic growth. This growth came from a variety of things, including trade, technologic/engineering developments, many new inventions, and Vietnamese drought proof rice which supported the growing population. During this time there was also a rebirth of Confuscionism, used to restore order in Chinese society. This also, however, had a negative impact on women - particularly elite women, who previously had been given more freedom. Foot binding was one of the popular traditions that returned. China also utilized a merit system, called the examination system, to select political leaders. This system was entirely based on your performance, and it no longer mattered what your family lineage was if you performed well. China also had a tribute system, which was a way of p...

Ch 10 discusses Christendom. Christendom began in the year 0 when Jesus was born. As Jesus accumulated more followers, the Roman Empire felt continually threatened by him and decided to kill him. Once Jesus was dead his followers were persecuted, yet his people still practiced. His followers held secretive sessions in basements and other hidden locations to continue to practice Christianity. Eventually, the Roman Empire made the drastic change to make Christianity the official religion. There was no separation of church and state at the time. Once they made this decision, the Roman Empire then also determined the dogma on what Christianity was, and what should be read and practiced, as well as peoples interpretation of it. People who agreed with these beliefs were then tortured and killed by the government. The second big change the Roman Empire made was by Constantine and his move of the capital to a new city named Constantinople around 400 AD. Moving to the East made it easier to def...

Ch 9 discusses the birth of Islam. While according to Western historians, the rise of Islam occured during the Medievil time period, evidence points otherwise. Defining the Classical Era are 4 major points, of where they were existentially, technologically, socially, and migration wise. Classical Era: 1. competition for dominance between civilizations 2. unique thinkers developed seminal ideas that are still used today 3. formation of complex empires and cosmopolitan urban centers 4. political units arise which straddle more than one continent. Islmaic Era: 1. Islmaic Empire in competition with China and other flourishing empires. 2. The main seminal thinker of Islam was born during this time 3. This was the formation of the Islamic Empire 4. Islam spreads across mulitple continents. Overall, Islamic history shows evidence that it was in its Classical Era. The exestential state of Islam, being in competition w/ China and other flourishing civilizations. The technological ...

The intro to part 3 basically describes how difficult it is to determine when one era of history ends and when another begins. I find this incredibly interesting because many people feel as though we are in a time like this right now. Many people consider now in 2018 as postmodern, and many disagree. The intro also discusses something old, something new, and something blended, which I also see parallels to with our situation today. It is hard to define the characteristics of major civilizations, as they vary so vastly across the globe right now. Life in America varies greatly from Communist China. Ch 7 mostly discusses 3 types of roads, sand, silk, and sea. The Silk Road was the only famous commerce path I had previously heard of.  Famous for connecting Eurasia and particularly in the transportation of the commodity of silk, this trail also spread many other things, such as ideologies. Buddhism was one of the main things spread via the Silk Road. Unfortunately, though not everyth...

Chapter 6 of the book discusses the similarities and differences between many different civilizations. Some of these civilizations include the Niger River Cities, the Teotihuacan people, the Bantu migrations, and the Pacific Islands. These are very interesting to read about because they are not what you typically think of when you think of a Classical Era civilization. It's important to realize the whole world didn't consist of only giant empires. Niger River Cities: Resembled the Indus Valley. Many cities with no set state structure. Each city has a specialized economy, and they traded with one another. Men and Woman appeared to be equals. There is no archeological proof of any sort of social hierarchy at this time (similar to Indus Valley). Teotihuacan: Largest urban complex in the Americas at this time, and the 6th largest in the world. They had a Street of the Dead, which contained the large homes of all the elite people, many temples, as well as two pyramids. There was...